Welcome to Del Angel BJJ
There are so many good reasons to join Del Angel BJJ. We believe that martial arts are a gateway to improving your life in so many ways. Some arrive at our studio in search of developing confidence, physical fitness and street smarts. Others are looking to generate a sense of courage and inner peace.
There are even those that are drawn to this art form due to their love of the culture and tradition that it embodies. Whatever your motivation, you will discover an inspiring world of self-transformation. Join us! You will be so grateful you did.
Our Lineage
Fabio Novaes
Fabio Novaes was born in 1974 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1992 where he graduated as a black belt under Marcelo Saporito of the “Academia Carlson Gracie” in 2002. In addition to his training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Fabio also holds a green belt in Judo. Fabio is recognized by the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation, (CBJJ), The Rio de Janeiro Jiu-Jitsu Federation (F.J-J.RIO), The Olympic Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FJJORJ) and the Brazilian Confederation of Olympic Jiu-Jitsu (CBJJO). Fabio holds multiple World titles, and PANAmerican titles both in gi and no-gi under the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation.
Marcelo Saporito
Marcelo Saporito is the head coach of one of the most iconic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies in the world, “Academia Carlson Gracie” Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Marcelo Saporito was born on July 21, 1959, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his journey of martial arts with boxing and Tae Kwon Do at the age of 11 years old. He was very disciplined and serious about the sport that by the age of twenty years old he was already a multiple time state champion in Rio de Janeiro. Saporito began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 1982 under the instruction of Master Carlson Gracie himself. He achieved all his belts under Carlson’s instruction including his black belt on September 20, 1995.
Carlson assessed Saporito’s skill as an instructor and was quite impressed that he decided to promote Saporito to full time assistant coach. With time his influence in the team was evident and he was asked to take over as the head coach by his Master Carlson Gracie.
Carlson Gracie
Carlson Gracie is the oldest son of Carlos Gracie, one of the founders of Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Rio de Janeiro in the 1920’s. He is considered one of the most influential Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners, he and his students created various innovative techniques and strategies that revolutionized the art. His style favors a more active, “Warrior Style” of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that encourages physical prowess and barraging your opponent with a series of attacks. Carlson reigned as world champion for thirty years covering the '50s, '60s and '70s. He then founded “Academia Carlson Gracie” in 1960, in Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil. Some of Carlson's lineage can be seen in the creation of some of the greatest MMA gyms in the world: Brazilian Top Team, Nova União and American Top Team were all founded by Carlson Gracie's black belts.
The Gracies
All those decades, the Gracie family dedicated their lives, day and night, to improve Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. Now the Japanese learn from us. Carlos Gracie was not a strong man physically. He was small in stature, and he never liked to fight. In fact, he never wanted anything to do with fighting. When he had the chance to learn this he thought, “My God, I think I can give something extraordinary to people who don’t have the physical advantages that natural athletes have. I want to transform little guys into giants. I’ll use these techniques to help people like me succeed, not just in physical confrontation but in all areas of life.” Because non-Japanese were never taught Jiu-jitsu, Koma asked that Carlos Gracie never teach it to the public, only to family members. He did this for years until he learned of Koma’s death in Japan. He made inquiries and found that Koma had died under mysterious circumstances. His food had been poisoned.
Carlos Gracie then decided that he should share the gift that Koma had given him so that Jiu-jitsu would never die out in Brazil. This is when the first Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy was started.
Carlos Gracie had twenty-one children, ninety-eight grandchildren, and one hundred-eighty great-grandchildren. Of his twenty-one children, all ten of his sons became black belts. Combined with their ancestors in Scotland and Ireland, the Gracie family could be the largest family in the world.
Mitsuyo Maeda Koma
Maeda was born in Funazawa Village, Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, on November 18, 1878. He attended Kenritsu Itiu high school (currently Hirokou—a Hirosaki school). As a child, he was known as Hideyo. He practiced sumo as a teenager, but lacked the ideal build for the sport. Because of the interest generated by stories about the success of judo at contests against jujutsu that were occurring at the time, he changed from sumo to judo. In 1894, at seventeen years of age, his parents sent him to Tokyo to enroll in Waseda University. He joined the Kodokan Judo Institute the following year.
Interestingly, Koma was one of five “Guardian” instructors sent by Professor Jigoro Kano to the United States to teach U.S. military men the art of Judo. These instructors were requested by President Theodore Roosevelt. Koma had been personally trained by Kano.
The duties of Koma’s position were to oversee Japanese immigration to Brazil. This is what brought Gastao Gracie and Koma together. The friendship between them became so strong that Koma decided to do something that was not normally done. He taught Jiu-jitsu to Carlos Gracie. This was about 1918